Dive briefs:
- FDA is Allow carefully worded qualified health claims On the relationship between cocoa flavanols and a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. The ruling, announced on February 3, responds to a 2018 petition from global chocolate giant Barry Callebaut.
- The claim addresses the fact that cocoa flavanols “may reduce” the risk of cardiovascular disease. They also say there is “very limited scientific evidence” to support the claim. This claim may only appear on products that use high-flavanol cocoa powder, not regular cocoa powder, chocolate, or other foods made from cocoa beans.
- Barry Callebaut has been working towards health claims for products containing cocoa flavanols for 10 years.Chocolate Ingredients Provider Has Achieved Much More direct health claims in Europe in 2013.
Dive Insight:
of FDA response Barry Callebaut’s petition goes a long way to show that while some aspects of cocoa may be beneficial to consumers’ health, chocolate is not healthy.
Products that can use this claim must use a fairly specific high-flavanol cocoa powder, consisting of at least 4% flavanols, the respondent said.according to 2008 survey In the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry Partially by Hershey Scientists, natural cocoa powder is about 3.5% flavanols. Its proportion is reduced with a common alkaline treatment to reduce the bitterness known as Dutching.
The claim is rather verbose and doesn’t easily fit in a package.The FDA has given four options to use, the shortest of which is 28 words. FDA has concluded that there is very limited scientific evidence for this claim. “
The EU accepts a similar claim, but it is much more succinct.In Europe, manufacturers can say that consuming 200 milligrams of cocoa flavanols daily can help maintain blood vessel elasticity. Now in ChoVita chocolate barsUses Barry Callebaut’s original specially processed high-flavanol Acticor chocolate.
Because this claim is so conditional, it’s not clear to what extent it’s currently being used in the US. Consumers may be more likely to get something to go with chocolate that claims to be good for the heart, but FDA-approved claims make it difficult for manufacturers to believe their products actually have some benefit. can be difficult to convince consumers of.
However, high-tech ingredient manufacturers focused on flavanols can benefit from this decision. announced a $3 million investment to accelerate. Products from this venture are still years away, but this decision from the FDA lays the groundwork for Ayana Bio to make the heart-healthy claims of its cocoa-derived ingredients readily available.
